Orthodontic appliance

ABSTRACT

An orthodontic lower lingual bar retainer is described which is fittable directly in a patient&#39;&#39;s mouth. Such retainer includes a pair of cuspid bands respectively for the lower left and lower right cuspids of a patient. A spring clip is provided on the lingual side of each of such cuspid bands for receiving the end of a lingual bar to maintain those teeth of the patent located between the cuspids in a desired alignment. Each spring clip includes a protruding dimple which protrudes centrally from the base of the clip and is spot-welded to the band to secure the clip to the band. Such dimple spaces the remainder of the clip away from the band so that such clip is capable of being pivoted at the dimple towards and away from the clip. The lingual bar can thus be fitted within the patient&#39;&#39;s mouth when the cuspid bands are on the patient&#39;&#39;s teeth, the clips pivoting as necessary to accommodate, align and properly hold the ends of the bar in the correct relation with respect to the bands to allow removal of the bands and lingual bar from the patient&#39;&#39;s mouth in one integral unit. The lingual bar is then permanently secured to the bands with gold solder or the like, and the finished retainer installed in the patient&#39;&#39;s mouth.

UnitedStates Patent Le Clair 7 Dec. 24, 1974 [5 ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCE which is fittable directly in a patients mouth. Such re [76] Inventor: Joseph K Le Clair, 4155 tainer includes a pair of cuspid bands respectively for Moorepark Ave San Jose Calif the lower left and lower right cuspids of a patient. A

95117 sprmg clip is prov1ded on the lingual side of each of such cuspid bands for receiving the end of a lingual [22] Filed: Apr. 9, 1973 bar to maintain those teeth of the patent located between the cuspids in a desired alignment. Each spring [21] Appl' 349319 clip includes a protruding dimple which protrudes centrally from the base of the clip and is spot-welded [52] U.S. Cl 32/14 A to the band to secure the clip to the band S h dim- [51] Int. Cl. A6lc 7/00 ple spaces the remainder of the clip away from the [58] Field of Search 32/14, 7 band so that such clip is capable of being pivoted at the dimple towards and away from the clip. The lin- [56] References Cited gual bar can thus be fitted within the patients mouth UNITED STATES PATENTS when the cuspid bands are on the patients teeth, the

534,849 2/1895 Angle 32/14 A Clips pivoting as necessary to accommmiate, align and 2,023,849 12/1935 McCoy 32 14 A P y hold the ends of the bar in the come rela- 3,203,09s 8/1965 Petraitis 32/14 A tion with pe to the bands to allow removal of the Primary ExaminerRobert Peshock Attorney, Agent, or FirmC. Michael Zimmerman, Esq.

bands and lingual bar from the patients mouth in one integral unit. The lingual bar is then permanently secured to the bands with gold solder or the like, and the finished retainer installed in the patients mouth.

11 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to orthodontics and, more particularly, to a retainer construction which is directly fittable to a patients mouth without the necessity of first making an impression of the patients dental arch.

In the field of orthodontics in which the location or orientation of teeth within a patients mouth is changed, it is normally necessary to retain the teeth at their new location or orientation for a period of time until the facial musculature re-adapts itself to the newly oriented teeth, thus preventing them from reverting toward their original location. Orthodontic appliances called retainers are fitted and installed into the mouth of a patient for this purpose. In general, though, the procedure involved in fitting and installing such retainers leaves much to be desired. For example, two separate patient visits and intermediate laboratory work are generally required to properly fit and install cuspid-to-cuspid retainers of the type often used to retain a patients lower front teeth in position. At the first patient visit, cylindrical bands are fitted to spacedapart supporting teeth of the patient, usually his cuspids, and an impression (mold) is made of the patients lower mouth arch. The fitted bands are then removed from the patients teeth and properly positioned into the impression material. A model of the lower arch is then formed, typically after the patient has left. That is, the orthodontist, his assistant or a laboratory he employs, pours a hardening material into the impression to provide a casting of the patients lower arch, complete with bands on the cuspids. The orthodontist utilizes the casting as a model of the patients arch formation to properly shape and size a lingual bar to extend between the cuspid bands and hold the intermediate teeth in position. The ends of the lingual bar are then soldered to the lingual or rear sides of the cuspid bands to form the completed retainer.

After the retainer is properly trimmed and polished, the patient is again required to visit the orthodontists office for cementing of the fitted retainer into his mouth.

It will be appreciated that the necessity of forming a cast of the patients lower arch and utilizing it to construct and properly fit the retainer is a tedious and time-consuming operation. Moreover, the necessity of the patient having to have two separate appointments with the orthodontist adds to the inconvenience to the patient, as well as takes up Office time of the orthodontist.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an orthodontic appliance which enables a lower retainer or the like to be directly fitted in the mouth of the patient, thereby eliminating the necessity of casting a model of the mouth and utilizing the same. In its most basic aspects, the appliance of the invention includes, as is usual, a band which is fittable around a patients tooth. Such band is provided with a clip for holding a member, such as the end of a lingual bar, to the band and, hence, to the tooth. As a particularly salient feature of the instant invention, a spacer is provided between the band and clip at the location at which they are joined to thereby otherwise space the clip from the band, and means are provided adhering the clip to the band at such location which allow the clip to be pivoted at the spacer toward and away from the band. This construction enables the clip and, thus, the lingual bar, to be oriented relative to the band within the patients mouth to properly fit the appliance, rather than requiring that such fitting be accomplished on a cast model. After the fitting in the patients mouth, the appliance can be removed to rigidly fix both the clip and lingual bar in position relative to the band, such as by gold soldering. The appliance can then immediately be installed into the patients mouth.

Desirably, the spacer is simply provided as a protruding portion or dimple configuration integral with the back wall of the clip and protruding centrally therefrom for contact with the band. Such dimple will provide a generally point contact between the clip and band so that such clip can be pivoted toward and away from the band in generally all directions around the dimple. The means which adheres the clip to the band can merely be a spot-weld of the dimple to the band. The spot-welding adherence provides a secure joining of the band and clip, while allowing the desired pivoting to the extent necessary for proper fitting of the bar to the clip.

The orthodontic appliance of the invention includes other features and advantages which are important and will be either described or will become apparent from the following more detailed description of a preferred embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING With reference to the accompanying single sheet of drawing:

FIG. 1 is a partial, isometric view of a lower dental arch illustrating in place a lingual bar type retainer incorporating a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, side-elevation view of a band and clip of the invention holding a lingual bar and illustrating in phantom a pivoted position of such clip relative to the band;

FIG. 3 is an upper end view of the band and clip of FIG. 2 illustrating in phantom another pivoted position of the clip with respect to the band; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial side view of the clip and its points of securance to the band, illustrating the configuration of such clip and such point of securance in detail.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference first to FIG. 1, the lower dental arch l l of a human is shown having a lingual type orthodontic retainer, generally referred to by the reference numeral 12, incorporating the invention installed thereon. The appliance 12 is of the so-called three-to-three type lower retainer. That is, it extends from the right lower cuspid tooth 13 to the left lower cuspid tooth 14. In this connection, the retainer includes a pair of cuspid bands 16 and 17, respectively, fitted around teeth 13 and 14. The ends 18 and 19 of a lingual bar 21 are respectively secured to each of the bands 16 and 17. As illustrated, the lingual bar engages the lingual side of those teeth of the patient between the cuspids l3 and 14 to thereby maintain such teeth in alignment.

It is the manner of securance of the ends of the bar 21 to each of the bands 16 and 17 which provides the desired capability of fitting a retainer directly in a patients mouth, rather than requiring that a casting of such mouth be taken to construct a model for this purpose. Reference is made to FIGS. 2 through 4 for a more complete showing of such arrangement. As illustrated therein, the end 18 of the lingual bar 21 is not directly secured to the band 16, for example, as in the past, but rather through the intermediary of a spring clip 22. More particularly, the clip 22 is provided with a pair of spaced-apart spring fingers 23 which, when separated by the bar end 18, resiliently grip such end. In this connection, it will be noted that the end of bar 18 is of a square shaped size to be gripped between such spring fingers.

As a particularly salient feature of the instant invention, the clip 22 is secured to the band 16 for limited pivotal motion thereof toward and away from such band. More particularly, the clip includes a centrally located dimple 24 which protrudes outwardly from the base wall of the clip at the location at which the clip and band are joined. Such dimple will thereby otherwise space the clip from the band, and, depending upon the particular manner of securance of the clip to the band at the dimple, will allow the clip to be pivoted on the dimple toward and away from the band. As will be recognized, the dimple provides a generally point contact between the clip and band, whereby the clip is pivotal toward and away from the band in all directions around such point of contact, i.e., about all axes in a plane generally parallel to the surface of the band to which the clip is secured. Thus, FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate in phantom alternate positions of the clip when pivoted respectively in the vertical and horizontal directions about axes which are orthogonal to one another.

Means are provided adhering the clip to the band at the dimple, which means allows the clip to be pivoted as described. More particularly, a spot-weld as indicated at 26 secures the dimple to the band. Such spotweld will enable not only pivoting of the clip back and forth as described with respect to the band to accommodate the end of the lingual bar, but will also permit limited rotation of such clip for purpose as well. In this connection, the clip is most desirably stainless spring steel so that the fingers 23 will have the necessary resiliency for gripping the bar end 18. Spot-welding of the spring steel at the dimple will remove the temper from the steel at such location so that upon the clip being pivoted as described about such dimple, such clip will maintain its pivoted position with respect to the band rather than resiliently returning to its original position.

The clip associated with the band 17 for the end 19 of the lingual bar is identical to, and secured to its associated band the same way as, the clip 22 of band 16. It will therefore not be described in detail.

The detailed procedure for utilizing the present invention will now be described. A pair of cuspid bands having clips secured thereto in accordance with the invention are first fitted conventionally to the patient's lower left and lower right cuspids. A lingual bar of an appropriate length is selected and then fitted to the patients teeth in the proper location for maintaining them in the desired location. It may be necessary to slightly bend the bar at specific locations for such fitting. The ends of the bar are then snapped into the spring clips with orthodontic pliers or the like. Because the spring clips are capable of pivoting and slightly rotating with respect to their respective cuspid band, such clips will be oriented by the bar to the proper location for maintaining the bar in position. In this connection, it will be noted that the spring fingers 23 flare outwardly toward the mouth of the clip to provide such mouth with a width greater than the bar so as to receive such bar within the mouth irrespective of slight misalignment between the bar and clip. As the bar end is brought to fully seated position within the clip with pliers, the clip will pivot as necessary to accommodate the proper positioning of such bar relative to the patients teeth.

After the lingual bar is thus secured to each of the cuspid bands in the proper orientation relative thereto, the assembly is removed from the patients mouth. In this connection, because the cuspid teeth are generally conically shaped, such removal can be effected simply without distorting the positioning of the bands relative to the bar. Gold soldering is then used to rigidly secure the bar ends into their respective clips and permanently fix each of the clips in its proper pivoted position with respct to its associated band. After polishing and trimming, the completed retainer can then be cemented directly in the patients mouth.

It will be recognized that because a retainer incorporating the invention is capable of being fitted directly into a patients mouth, it is not necessary that an impression of the patients mouth be made or that the patient pay two separate visits to the Orthodontists office to have a retainer fitted and installed. Moreover, the fitting and installing of a retainer of the invention takes no more time that the one operation of making an impression of past procedures.

It will be recognized that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, although the band and pivotal clip arrangement has been described specifically in connection with a lower lingual retainer, it can be advantageously used in other orthodontic appliances in which it is desired to secure a member to a tooth via a band. In view of such changes and modifications, it is intended that the coverage afforded applicant be limited only by the language of the claims and its equivalent.

I claim:

1. An orthodontic appliance for securing a member to a tooth comprising a band fittable around the tooth, a clip secured to said band for holding said member to said tooth, a spacer between said band and said clip at the location at which said band and clip are joined to thereby otherwise space said clip from said band, and means adhering said clip to said band at said location allowing said clip to be pivoted at said spacer at least about a first axis which is generally parallel to the surface of said band opposed to said clip toward and away from said band to adjust the orientation of said clip relative to said band as desired to accommodate said clip to said member.

2. The orthodontic appliance of claim 1 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said means adhering said clip to said band is adapted to allow said clip to be also pivoted at said sapce about a second axis which is generally orthogonal to said first axis and also generally parallel to the surface of said band opposed to said clip.

3. The orthodontic appliance of claim 11 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said spacer provides a generally point contact between said clip and band enabling said clip to be pivoted about all axes in a plane generally parallel to said surface of said band opposed to said clip toward and away from said band in all directions around said protruding portion.

4. The orthodontic appliance of claim 3 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said spacer is a protruding portion integral with one of said band and said clip at said location at which said band and clip are joined.

5. The orthodontic appliance of claim 4 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said protruding portion is a dimple configuration generally centrally located in said clip.

6. The orthodontic appliance of claim 4 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said means adhering said clip to said band at said protruding portion is a spotweld of said protruding portion to the one of said band and clip not having said protruding portion.

7. The orthodontic appliance of claim 1 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said clip includes a pair of spaced-apart spring fingers for receiving said member therebetween to hold the same.

8. The orthodontic appliance of claim 7 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said member is a retainer bar adapted to extend across a plurality of teeth of the wearer to maintain alignment of such teeth, the end of said bar being shaped and sized to be gripped between said spring fingers of said clip.

9. The orthodontic appliance of claim 7 wherein said spacer is a protruding dimple configuration integral with and generally centrally located in said clip at the location at which said band and clip are joined and providing a generally point contact between said clip and band enabling said clip to be pivoted about all axes in a plane generally parallel to said surface of said band opposed to said clip toward and away from said band in all directions around said dimple, and wherein said means adhering said clip to said band at said dimple is a spot-weld of said dimple to said band.

10. The orthodontic appliance of claim 8 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said clip and said bar are part of an orthodontic retainer which includes a second one of said bands fittable around a tooth spaced from said first tooth, a second clip secured to said second bar and having a pair of spaced-apart spring fingers for receiving the second end of said bar, said second clip including a dimple protruding centrally therefrom at the location at which said band and said clip are joined to thereby otherwise space said clip from said band and allow said clip to be pivoted on said dimple about all axes in a plane generally parallel to said surface of said band opposed to said clip toward and away from said band in all directions around said dimple to adjust the orientation of said clip relative to said second band as desired to accommodate said second clip to said second end of said bar, and means adhering said dimple of said clip to said band allowing said relative pivoting of said clip towards and away from said band.

11. The orthodontic appliance of claim 10 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said retainer is a lower lingual retainer and said bands are respectively adapted to fit around the right and left lower cuspid teeth of a wearer, and said retainer bar is a lingual bar having a configuration and length to extend between said band in contact with the lingual side of the lower teeth of the wearer between said right and left cuspids. 

1. An orthodontic appliance for securing a member to a tooth comprising a band fittable around the tooth, a clip secured to said band for holding said member to said tooth, a spacer between said band and said clip at the location at which said band and clip are joined to thereby otherwise space said clip from said band, and means adhering said clip to said band at said location allowing said clip to be pivoted at said spacer at least about a first axis which is generally parallel to the surface of said band opposed to said clip toward and away from said band to adjust the orientation of said clip relative to said band as desired to accommodate said clip to said member.
 2. The orthodontic appliance of claim 1 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said means adhering said clip to said band is adapted to allow said clip to be also pivoted at said sapce about a second axis which is generally orthogonal to said first axis and also generally parallel to the surface of said band opposed to said clip.
 3. The orthodontic appliance of claim 11 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said spacer provides a generally point contact between said clip and band enabling said clip to be pivoted about all axes in a plane generally parallel to said surface of said band opposed to said clip toward and away from said band in all directions around said protruding portion.
 4. The orthodontic appliance of claim 3 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said spacer is a protruding portion integral with one of said band and said clip at said location at which said band and clip are joined.
 5. The orthodontic appliance of claim 4 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said protruding portion is a dimple configuration generally centrally located in said clip.
 6. The orthodontic appliance of claim 4 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said means adhering saiD clip to said band at said protruding portion is a spot-weld of said protruding portion to the one of said band and clip not having said protruding portion.
 7. The orthodontic appliance of claim 1 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said clip includes a pair of spaced-apart spring fingers for receiving said member therebetween to hold the same.
 8. The orthodontic appliance of claim 7 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said member is a retainer bar adapted to extend across a plurality of teeth of the wearer to maintain alignment of such teeth, the end of said bar being shaped and sized to be gripped between said spring fingers of said clip.
 9. The orthodontic appliance of claim 7 wherein said spacer is a protruding dimple configuration integral with and generally centrally located in said clip at the location at which said band and clip are joined and providing a generally point contact between said clip and band enabling said clip to be pivoted about all axes in a plane generally parallel to said surface of said band opposed to said clip toward and away from said band in all directions around said dimple, and wherein said means adhering said clip to said band at said dimple is a spot-weld of said dimple to said band.
 10. The orthodontic appliance of claim 8 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said clip and said bar are part of an orthodontic retainer which includes a second one of said bands fittable around a tooth spaced from said first tooth, a second clip secured to said second bar and having a pair of spaced-apart spring fingers for receiving the second end of said bar, said second clip including a dimple protruding centrally therefrom at the location at which said band and said clip are joined to thereby otherwise space said clip from said band and allow said clip to be pivoted on said dimple about all axes in a plane generally parallel to said surface of said band opposed to said clip toward and away from said band in all directions around said dimple to adjust the orientation of said clip relative to said second band as desired to accommodate said second clip to said second end of said bar, and means adhering said dimple of said clip to said band allowing said relative pivoting of said clip towards and away from said band.
 11. The orthodontic appliance of claim 10 for securing a member to a tooth wherein said retainer is a lower lingual retainer and said bands are respectively adapted to fit around the right and left lower cuspid teeth of a wearer, and said retainer bar is a lingual bar having a configuration and length to extend between said band in contact with the lingual side of the lower teeth of the wearer between said right and left cuspids. 